Creo Elements/Direct Annotation provides a tracing tool that creates new geometry equidistant to existing geometry. You specify a contour to be traced, the distance between that contour and the trace, and the side of the contour on which to position the new geometry.
To create an equidistant trace,
1. Click Geometry and then, in the Draw group, click Equidistance. The Equidistance dialog box opens.
2. Specify the elements of the contour to trace.
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation highlights the selected elements in red. If you want to undo the last selection, click Back; continue clicking Back to undo a sequence of selections.
3. When you have finished defining the contour, click Finish.
4. Enter the offset between the selected contour and the new geometry in the Distance box.
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation shows a preview of the new geometry on the sheet.
5. To draw the new geometry on the other side of the selected contour, click Other Side. The preview is adjusted accordingly.
6. Click to draw the geometry and complete the operation.
By default, you select contours in Automatic Mode. In this mode, Creo Elements/Direct Annotation considers the context of the geometry you select and may automatically select other, neighboring elements. However, occasionally you may need to switch off this mode; for example, when selecting elements belonging to different owners. When Automatic Mode is switched off, only those elements that you click are selected.
Using a relatively large distance for an equidistance may produce results that are unexpected. This situation appears when the distance is greater than the smallest radius on the selected elements. Although such results are mathematically correct, they may not be very useful as is. You may need to insert fillets at the intersection points and delete the inner loops.
Equidistance. The Equidistance dialog box opens.
to draw the geometry and complete the operation.